The present invention generally relates to a device for placing nutrients, flavorings or related ingredients into a water supply, and more particularly to a device that can inject accurate, repeatable quantities of such ingredients into a potable water stream.
The use of potable water, especially in bottled form, is in its ascendancy, where numerous products are commonly available, including those with minerals, flavorings or related additives. Nevertheless, the vast majority of water consumed today does not include such features, instead coming from a readily-available source in the form of a conventional faucet or tap. In one form, faucet-mounted systems employ filtration devices (including, for example, user-removable cartridges) to remove impurities from the water. While these work for their intended purposes, they do nothing to address the need to add ingredients to the water, in fact achieving just the opposite.
Presently, a consumer can mix in commercially available additives with dispensed tap water to create a flavored or fortified beverage directly from the faucet, rather than purchasing (often expensive) bottles of water and toting them home. While this convenience, coupled with low cost, represents a huge untapped market of potential users, its utility is limited by the inability to provide the tailored attributes of its bottled counterparts, as it is more difficult for the end-user to achieve consistent, repeatable mixing of additives into faucet-dispensed water to get the desired concentration of flavoring or nutrient unless a cumbersome measuring approach is employed. Such an exercise can be especially difficult for young children and people with physical or mental frailties.
Prior attempts at introducing supplemental materials have dealt with dissolving or leaching solids into flowing water. For example, fluoride and cleansers have been added into water flow. The device of Herzfeld et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,634,053, shows a handle that is connectable to a hose. The handle is disclosed as being for cleaning or massaging purposes. The handle has no filter integrated with it, and the cartridge holding the concentrate does not appear to be disposable. In addition, the cartridge relies passively on the differing number and sizes of holes with which to dispense the concentrate. U.S. Pat. No. 3,777,982 to Britton, in addition to having no filter integrated with it, uses a block of liquid soluble material instead of a disposable cartridge. The stated purpose of the device is for cleaners, shampoos, detergents, fertilizers or insecticides. U.S. Pat. No. 3,191,868 to Brown et al. is attachable to a faucet, and injects its ingredient, primarily fluoride, by a leaching process rather than a disposable cartridge/bladder combination. As with the previous devices, there is no filter integrated with it. Other devices, including U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,842,429 (to Easton et al.), 2,734,632 (to De Ment), 1,991,388 (to Healy), 1,687,085 (to Dow) and UK Patent Application 2,204 253 (to Deeney et al.) all differ in the way in which additives are delivered with a water supply.
While these approaches to injecting materials into a water stream are currently being employed, their effectiveness is limited by one or more of the aforementioned problems and disadvantages. For example, none of the previously-discussed approaches incorporates a quickly and easily replaceable cartridge containing a beneficiation material such as flavors, vitamins, and other ingestible materials into the water flow. Moreover, the previous attempts do not use water pressure to act on a bladder containing a supply of beneficiation materials. Thus, what is needed is a device that is easily attached to a conventional water supply, such as a kitchen or related faucet, to provide repeatable quantities of on-demand beneficiated water. In the present context, a beneficiated liquid (such as water) is that which through the addition of one or more ingredients receives some form of fortification or related enhancement. What is further needed is such a device that may be integrated with a water filtration system. What is additionally needed is such a device configured with a beneficiating material-containing cartridge that is easily removable and replaceable, such that beneficiation of water can be achieved inexpensively.